Seven Weeks: A Seven Days Fanfiction

WEEK FIVE: Sunday (Yuzuru)

The hallway outside the surgical hall was cold, thanks to a large overhead air vent that seemed to be drawing air in from the December outdoors. I was in pajama pants and a short sleeved t-shirt. The surface of my skin felt icy, but at this point I could have been hypothermic and it wouldn't have registered as discomfort.

I couldn't stop crying.

I didn't know what time it was, or how long they'd had Mom in there. The whole morning had been like a stupendously awful sequel to an already horrific movie: waking up to Mom's monitors going crazy, watching her convulse uncontrollably as the nursing staff came rushing in. Backing into a corner, sobbing, as her doctors tried to get the seizure under control. Things were injected into her IV, her bed was raised and converted in preparation for a run to the operating room, there were a lot of barked orders about notifying the surgeon on call.

I'd chased after them as they wheeled Mom out, but the nurses stopped me and led me some other route through a maze of hallways to this cold, hard bench outside the surgical hall. One of the doctors came to explain that mom's bleed had worsened in the night. It was creating too much pressure in her brain, so now the surgeons had to go in and stop the bleeding while trying to keep her delicate heart from failing under anesthesia at the same time.

I didn't understand half of the technical stuff they were telling me. All I got was that it was bad. Really, really bad. The plan yesterday had been to change up Mom's medications and monitor her for a few days before attempting surgery, in the hopes that either the bleed would correct itself or at least her clotting abilities would improve first. Now it couldn't wait. Now, even if her heart didn't fail and she didn't bleed out during surgery, she might still come out of all of this with brain damage.

Now, the only thing I could do was sit and wait to find out if Mom was going to get another miracle.

But what were the chances she'd beat the odds twice?

"Yuzuru-san!"

Miraculously, I was hearing the one voice in the universe that had the power to make me feel better. My head came up. Seryou ran down the hall, dark hair flying, and before I could even get to my feet he'd dropped to his knees in front of me, throwing his arms around my waist. "I heard about your mother. God, are you okay?"

His head was pressed to my chest, his torso between my legs, and I clung to him in misery. "Seryou." His presence was a comfort I couldn't have imagined. After a week of thinking he was gone forever, his warmth was a literal safety net. I put my cheek on top of his head and pulled him into me, trembling. "Seryou..."

"I'm here. I'm here," he said earnestly.

All I could do was cry a little harder. "She's gonna die this time. I know it."

"Shh." His arms tightened. "Don't say that."

I sat there hugging him, until it occurred to me that unless he'd broken out of the mental health ward to get here, it was a lot later than I'd thought. I sniffled. "Shit, what time is it? I wanted to be there when you got out. I missed it, huh?"

"Don't worry about it, this is more important." He tilted his head up to look at me. "I'm so sorry, Yuzuru-san."

Even through my tears, he managed to make me chuckle. "There you go again."

"Huh?"

"Apologizing for stuff that's not your fault."

He grinned. "Habit, I guess," he said, brushing the backs of his bandaged hands against my tear-soaked cheeks.

I closed my eyes, fighting the impulse to fall apart all over him. I'd just gotten him back, I didn't want to burden him with all this. "I don't know what I'm gonna do if Mom dies. I'm not ready to lose her."